At the end of a long and memorable NFL season, we tend to reflect upon the highs and lows of what our favorite team accomplished (or didn't) this year. Restaurant management software company Toast, recently published detailed information on the food and drink highlights this for the 2023 NFL season. In Florida, the most popular alcoholic beverage paired with football varied by market.
In Tampa, the most popular drink ordered was cider. If you head down to Miami, it seemed fans preferred to sip wine when the Dolphins were on. Lastly, up in Jacksonville, hard seltzer was most common. For what it's worth, the Jaguars did have 11 of their games kickoff at 1 pm.
With the Bucs having a 19-game season (including their two playoff games), Toast says the market experienced a "1% increase in restaurant food and alcohol sales on Sundays during the NFL season compared to out of season."
Furthermore, Mashed broke down football alcohol popularity even further. Ahead of the big game, they specifically detailed which alcohol got the overall biggest boost for NFL Sundays. Jacksonville football fans were on to something. The answer was that hard seltzer saw the biggest increase by far. Mashed said, "Hard seltzer was the most popular drink to sip on during a game; the beverage saw a whopping 47% increase in consumption on football Sundays compared to Sundays during the rest of the year."
Florida Football Fans Wide Range Of Alcoholic Beverage Choices
Toast listed the top three alcoholic beverage orders per market during the 2023 football season. Eight different drinks were named throughout the three Florida territories. Surprisingly, Tampa was the only area where beer was often selected.
In addition, Toast detailed similar information on the food choices. Florida football viewers seemed to have downed a lot of chicken wings this fall. Per Toast data, wing orders increased by 35%. This popular ballgame food was listed for each Florida market. The most unique selection, however, was hot ramen noodles, being the top food order paired with football in Miami.
In order to compile this information, Toast studied data through their point-of-sale software system. Specifically, they analyzed the order differences per item on NFL Sundays through mid-December. The restaurant industry as a whole saw alcohol orders up 6% this football season.
The upcoming Super Bowl is obviously another major impactful day when it comes to the food and beverage industry. It's fair to say your food and drink choices to accompany your game festivities are crucial decisions. The joy of not having your team in the Super Bowl is that Florida fans can order plates of great food, have a table full of alcoholic beverage choices, and just enjoy the game.
